FRANK MAKES A BARGAIN.
"What's the next thing on the program, Frank?" asked Billy.
"I must go to town and see Major Nixon," came the prompt reply.
"You mean so as to hand this prisoner over to his charge, don't you?"
"I want to get in touch with the civil authorities, and make certain
arrangements looking to his detention for several days," explained
Frank.
The spy started and looked eagerly at the speaker. His dry lips moved as
though he were trying to voice the sudden hope that had flashed through
his brain; but no sound followed. Still it could be seen that his
despair was not as complete as before.
"But Frank," interrupted Pudge, "perhaps it won't be necessary for you
to skip out and leave."
"Tell me what you mean, Pudge?" Frank asked him.
"Use the telephone, and talk with the Major. Yes, it was knocked out of
commission by those smarties, but while you were away this morning,
having nothing else to do, I amused myself hunting for the break in the
wire, which I found and easily spliced."
"Does it work all right now, Pudge?" questioned Billy, grinning at the
thought of the other doing all that climbing, because action of this
sort was hardly the forte of their stout chum.
"As good as ever, for I tested it," he was told.
Frank, however, shook his head in the negative.
"I think I had better go personally and see the Major," he told them.
"How's that, Frank?" remarked Billy quickly. "Do you suspect that in
some way those men may have tapped our wire?"
"Well, I wouldn't put it past them," came the reply. "Spies have to be
up to all sorts of clever dodges, and that would be just in line with
their work."
Billy gave a whistle to indicate the state of his mixed feelings.
"Gee whillikins, to think that we haven't whispered a single sentence
along that wire but what some outsider was drinking it in! Frank, I
guess you're right, and that in a particular case like this it's best to
deal at first hand with Major Nixon."
"I'm sure of that, boys," the leader told them in his quiet, convincing
way.
"And I suppose that you want us to stick by the hangar while you're
away; is that the game, Frank?" Pudge wanted to know.
"Yes, and be mighty careful how you take your eyes off the prisoner for
even a minute," Frank directed. "I'm going to look all around the place
before I leave, so as to make sure there isn't another spy hidden away
in some corner. As soon as I step out, fasten the door and keep it so. I
may call you up over the wire, and if I do you'll know my voice.
Besides, to make absolutely sure I'll give you our old signal. That's
about all."
He bustled around for several minutes, and thoroughly explored the whole
interior of the hangar. When Frank had finished his task he was
absolutely sure that no intruder larger than a mouse could have escaped
his search.
Once outside he made for the gate, where he found a couple of
rosy-cheeked British khaki-clad Tommies on guard, with whom he exchanged
pleasant greetings.
"Don't let a single soul get past here until I come back again," he told
them. "I'm going to see Major Nixon, who is a personal friend of mine,
and my business with him is very important. We've caught a--well, a
thief in the hangar, and I want him to take charge of the rascal. If you
hear any row in there while I'm gone have some of your men go up to the
door; but keep the gate guarded meanwhile."
The two soldiers promised that they would attend strictly to business.
They knew something of what these young American boys were doing over in
France, and that their presence had to do with the closing of certain
arrangements with the French Government that had been under way before
the breaking out of the war.
Frank walked off.
He was feeling very well satisfied with the way things were coming out.
It was true there might be some cause for uneasiness in connection with
the determined efforts of the spies to either steal or ruin the machine;
but Frank believed he and his chums, assisted by the Allies, could keep
it from being destroyed through a bomb placed under the hangar by a
secret agent of the Kaiser.
One could not go very far in the neighborhood of Dunkirk in those
stirring days without being visibly reminded that it was a time of war.
Soldiers in detachments were moving this way or that; tents could be
seen in the fields; artillery was passing along the heavy roads bound
for the front, where the British army in the low country along the Yser
Canal must be getting ready for that long-heralded drive that was to
usher in the new policy of aggression in the early Spring.
Everywhere he looked Frank could see signs of this feverish life. How
different things were across the ocean in his own beloved land; and how
thankful he was that peace lay upon the great country of which he was a
son.
He knew where he was likely to find Major Nixon, for he had been to see
him at his quarters before now. As he walked quickly along with a
springy step, Frank was laying out his plan of campaign. It was like him
to prepare for possibilities, because he was determined that, as far as
he could prevent it, he and his chums would not take sides in this
terrible struggle for supremacy, any more than could be prevented.
Coming to the building in which the British had their Headquarters he
was stopped by a sentry who demanded his business.
"I must see Major Nixon on very important business," Frank told him. "I
hope he is in his quarters, for I wish to send my card with a line on it
to him."
Of course all that the sentry could do was to summon a noncommissioned
officer, to whom Frank repeated his request. It happened that the
sergeant had seen Frank walking arm in arm with the Major, and hence
knew that they were friends.
"He is very busy just now, and gave word that he was not to be disturbed
except on most important business," the sergeant informed him.
"This is a matter," the boy told him impressively, "that concerns grave
issues connected with the plans of your leaders, and I hope you will see
that the Major gets my card."
"I will carry it to him myself," announced the sergeant, which he
accordingly did, and soon came back nodding his head.
The few urgent words written on the card had the desired effect, for the
sergeant immediately asked Frank to follow him.
"Major Nixon told me to say that he would see you, sir," was the message
he gave the boy.
Presently Frank entered the soldier's room. He found the Major
impatiently awaiting his coming, and with an extended hand in the
bargain.
"My word! but you've given me a beastly shock by what you write," he was
saying as he shook hands. "'Plans threatened with disaster--must see you
at once!' Now be good enough to tell me what it all means, for I'm
shivering with dread. If anything happened to upset all those splendidly
arranged plans for the raid, we'd be broken-hearted, you know."
"Before I say a single word, Major Nixon, I want you to give me your
promise to agree to a certain stipulation I shall make. It simply
concerns a man's life; and will not interfere the least bit with your
ideas of military rules."
"That's a singular request to make, Frank, but I think I know you well
enough to feel sure you will not bind me to anything that would touch
upon my honor. I promise you then that you shall have your way; for I
imagine you want to have the disposal of this unknown man in your own
hands."
"That is just what I want, Major," returned the other quickly. "And now
listen while I tell you of a remarkable thing that happened after you
left us this morning."
"At your hangar, do you mean?" asked the soldier, looking startled.
"Yes."
"I hope you don't intend to tell me any of our men have proven false to
their trust and betrayed you, Frank; because I happen to know that the
aviator corps expects great things of that invention of Dr. Perkins',
should it eventually become the property of the French Government."
"There has been no traitor in the camp, Major," the other hastened to
assure him. "But nevertheless we have learned that all the while you
were there talking to us, and while we have been discussing the intended
raid in low tones among ourselves, there was a spy concealed in the
hangar who must have heard more or less of what was said, despite our
precautions."
The soldier jumped to his feet. He looked almost frightened as he stared
into the face of Frank Chester.
"You are sure of what you say, are you, Frank?" he asked with an effort.
"Oh! there isn't the slightest doubt about it," came the reply.
Then Major Nixon began to breathe easier. He saw that Frank was smiling,
and his common sense told him the boy would not be likely to show such
freedom from anxiety if things were as bad as he had at first feared.
"Frank, tell me the rest without delay. I know you've got good news back
of this astonishing disclosure. Where is that spy now?"
"In the hangar still," replied Frank.
"Did you take him prisoner?" demanded the Major eagerly.
"Yes, and I'll tell you how it was done, sir. We had quite a little
circus for a short time, believe me."
Major Nixon listened, and as he heard how Pudge sat down upon the
surprised eavesdropper whom they had dragged from the locker, he even
smiled, for that terrible fear had by now left his soul.
"My word! what great luck that you caught him before he could send any
sort of signal to his companions!" he exclaimed. "And we must see to it
that he does not have a chance to even wink an eye toward anyone. It
would have ruined everything if he had slipped away. I am a thousand
times obliged to you, Frank, for being so much on the alert. It would
have ruined my own career if the break had been traced back and placed
on my shoulders. We will see to it that this spy gets all that is coming
to him."
"Oh! but you forget your promise, Major Nixon!" remarked the boy coolly.
The soldier looked at him and frowned.
"But Frank, a spy is a dangerous sort of reptile, no matter on which
side he is working," he objected. "These Germans have the most complete
system of secret espionage ever known. It is hard to keep anything from
their knowledge. This man knew the risk when he hid there in your
hangar. He should pay the penalty of his venture. He can expect nothing
less than death."
"Wait, Major Nixon; please remember that he is _my_ prisoner, not yours.
If I had spoken the word he could have been set free. You gave me your
solemn promise that I should have the say of his fate if I handed him
over to the authorities."
The soldier pondered these words for a minute before continuing.
"Tell me just what you've got in your mind, my boy," he said, "and I
feel certain that I can agree to it, because I know how sensible you
are."
"Then listen, sir," said Frank impressively. "We three are Americans,
and while we may sympathize with the Allies in this struggle at the same
time we do not hate the German people, but feel the warmest friendship
for them. We would not care to remember that we had turned over this spy
to the military authorities to be shot. It would grieve us more than I
can tell you, sir."
"But you have a plan, Frank, of course?" ventured the other.
"Yes."
"Which, it is to be hoped, will protect our great secret?"
"Here is what I want you to agree to, sir," Frank told him. "We will
turn this man over to the civil authorities of Dunkirk to be considered
solely in the light of a sneak thief who meant to steal something from
our hangar and dispose of it so as to buy food. He has papers to show
that he is by birth a Swede, but an American citizen by adoption."
"Ah! yes, but those have undoubtedly been stolen, and are being used for
a purpose anyone can understand," declared the soldier.
"Yes, that is what we believed, sir," said Frank. "At the same time if
he were shot it might raise an unpleasant tension between my Government
and the Allies. As I look at it, the main thing you want to do is to so
arrange it that this spy can in no manner communicate with any of his
fellows. Am I right there, Major?"
"Yes, yes; that is the principal thing we must consider now, Frank."
"All right, that can be done just as well if he is shut up as a thief,
and at the end of three days, after the raid is a thing of the past,
allowed to take his departure from Dunkirk with a warning that if caught
again he will pay the penalty with his life."
Again the soldier pondered. He did not like to let the spy off so
easily, for like most bluff fighting men, Major Nixon felt an aversion
for those clever secret agents who could block the plans of generals
through securing information in advance.
Finally he gave a sigh and smiled at Frank.
"My word! but you know how to handle matters, Frank," he observed. "Of
course I can see just how you and your fine chums must feel about this
thing; and on the whole I do not blame you. Yes, I give you my promise
again that it will be done as you say. We will take the man to a place
of security where he cannot find a chance to communicate with his kind
in any possible way. He will be known simply as a suspected thief on the
records. And after the raid is over with, I myself will see that he is
led to the outskirts of the town, and let go with a warning. Is that
sufficient, Frank?"
"Yes, sir, for I know your word is as good as your bond," Frank told
him. "I feel I have done my duty without being instrumental in
sacrificing a life."